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• A lot of the things we do to find happiness are stimulating, but they're not satisfying in the long run.
• Illustration: A woman's unusual pet burial service leaves would-be thieves with a big surprise.

• In Psalm 1, we find a biblical understanding of happiness and how to achieve it.
• The Old Testament definition of "happiness" is different from ours—it is a life of fulfillment and satisfaction, a life that makes a difference.

-Illustration: Wenig's work on his dissertation had its highs and lows, but though the circumstances changed, he remained fulfilled and satisfied with the experience.

• First, do not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

-The psalmist is referring to people who go throughout their lives without God.
-We don't want their influence in our big life decisions, because they leave God out of the equation.
• Second, delight in the law of the Lord, and meditate on it day and night.

-The word that's used here for "law" is the word "torah," meaning instruction and wisdom from God.
-To delight in something means to take pleasure in it.
-Illustration: Every 7 seconds, in conversation, our mind wanders. The thing your mind goes to is probably what you're meditating on.
-Illustration: Both sons of a Midwestern farmer grew up to join the Navy and love the water; their father realized this happened because they were meditating on a nautical painting hung in their room.

• The person who delights and meditates in the whole counsel of God will become like a tree planted near a stream of water.
• If we want satisfaction and fulfillment, we've got to look at our lives over the long haul and realize that God always stands with us, even in the hard times.
• Those that delight in the Lord will prosper.
• Prosperity isn't only money; it's also getting those things from God that help us go through life and manage it well.
• At the end of their lives, people who leave God out of their lives become like chaff. There's nothing to them, nothing substantial.

• This life, biblically speaking, is preparation for the life to come.
• Those who are practical atheists, who leave God out of the equation, live lives that ultimately lead to a dead end.